Culicoides neghmei Vargas, 1972

Huerta, Herón, Spinelli, Gustavo R. & Grogan Jr, William L., 2025, An atlas of wing photographs and a key to species of the genus Culicoides Latreille from Mexico (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), including new records, new synonymy, two new species and new status of Culicoides neghmei Vargas and C. propinquus Macfie, Zootaxa 5566 (1), pp. 1-51 : 11-12

Culicoides neghmei Vargas , stat. nov.

( Fig. 82 , 99–103 )

Culicoides neghmei Vargas, 1955 (male, female; description; Mexico, type locality Atlixco, Puebla; figures: wing, palpus, male genitalia, paramere). Wirth et al. 1988: 58 (atlas of wing photographs of Neotropical species; distribution; miscellaneous unplaced species); Borkent & Wirth 1997: 75 (in world species of biting midges); Borkent & Spinelli 2000: 42 (in catalog of new world south of the United States; distribution); Borkent & Spinelli 2007: 66 (in catalog of the Ceratopogonidae of the Neotropical region; distribution); Borkent & Dominiak 2020: 139 (in catalogue of biting midges of the world); Mendez & Ibáñez-Bernal 2023: 32 (in catalogue of the Culicoides of Mexico; miscellaneous unplaced species).

Culicoides (Glaphiromyia) neghmei Vargas. Vargas 1972: 125 (in list of Mexican species and subgenus).

Culicoides (Oecacta) neghmei Vargas. Wirth 1974: 34 (in catalogue of Diptera of the Americas south of United States; distribution).

Diagnosis. Distinguished by its wing with a large pale spot in distal portion of cell r 3 broadly abutting costal wing margin; fore and mid femora with subapical pale band, hind femur dark brown, hind tibia with subbasal pale band and distal wide pale band; parameres with a large, stout, subapical, laterally directed like-spine. Female unknown (see comments).

Description male. Head dark brown ( Fig. 99 ). Eyes bare; flagellum dark brown; base of flagellomeres 1–9 pale, flagellomeres 10–13 uniformly dark brown; flagellomeres 1–9 vasiform, 10–13 separated, subcylindrical; flagellomere 10 2.3x shorter than 11; AR 0.85; sensilla coeloconica on flagellomeres 1(?), 8–10. Palpus dark brown; third segment slightly swollen, with a moderately deep sensory pit opening by a small pore; PR 2.85; P/H ratio 0.54. Thorax dark brown. Slide mounted specimens not in position to describe the scutal pattern. Legs dark brown, femoral-tibial joints dark brown; femora dark brown, fore and mid femora with subapical and tibiae with subbasal pale bands; hind tibia with wide pale distal band; hind tibial comb with four spines, second from spur longest. Wing ( Fig. 82 ), length 1.02–1.05 (1.03, n=2) mm; width 0.37–0.45 (0.41, n=2) mm; CR 0.50 (n=2). Second radial cell in a dark spot, cell shorter than first cell; pale spot over r-m crossvein abutting costal wing margin; poststigmatic pale spots in cell r 3 fused into a single, rounded spot; distal pale spot large, broadly abutting costal wing margin; cell m 1 with broad distal pale spot narrowly abbuting wing margin; vein M 2 straddled by a broad pale spot near base; cell m 2 with distal pale spot at wing margin, and another spot lying just below r-m crossvein; cell cua 1 with broad pale spot at wing margin; veins CuA 1 and CuA 2 dark to apex; anal cell with broad distal pale spot at wing margin and a small irregular pale spot at area near basal arculus. Halter pale.

Abdomen dark brown. Sternite 9 ( Fig. 101 ) with shallow emargination, tergite 9 ( Fig. 100 ) tapering with straight posterior margin, with short triangular apicolateral process. Aedeagus ( Fig. 101 ) Y-shaped, median process with a pair of pointed elongate lateral subapical processes; parameres separate, with submedian elongate curved sharply pointed thornlike processes and subapical fringe of spines ( Fig. 102–103 ).

Female. Unknown.

Remarks. This species was included in the subgenus Oecacta in the catalogue of species south of the USA by Wirth (1974). Subsequently Wirth et al. (1988), Borkent & Spinelli (2000, 2007) and Borkent & Dominiak (2020) did not place this species to subgenus or species group. Since its original description, the type specimens had not been reviewed until recently by HH that allowed him to find several mistakes in the original description. For example, the female Allotype designated by Vargas (1955) is not conspecific with the male holotype. However, it is conspecific with C. (Beltranmyia) crepuscularis Malloch. This female is slide mounted in Canada balsam and is in a poor condition as it lacks wings, and its legs coloration does not agree with the male holotype of C. neghmei Vargas. Finally , the illustration of the holotype male paramere by Vargas (1955) does not agree with our observation of this specimen.

Based on our examination of the male holotype and paratype, we concluded that this species is very closely related to C. luglani Jones & Wirth (1958) . Specific differences are observed in relation to the femur of the hind leg. For example, C. luglani has a narrow distal pale band on the hind legs ( Jones & Wirth 1958) or a prominent subapical pale band ( Phillips 2022), whereas C. neghmei lacks this distal pale band. Therefore, it is likely that both species are conspecific. Given the poor condition of specimens of C. neghmei , we suggest that this species is closely related to C. luglani and that both species are likely in the Limai species group.

Material examined. Type series. HOLOTYPE. MEXICO, Puebla, Atlixco, Mexican Faune 1690 H, A. Dampf, CET (88049), slide mounted in balsam Canada ; dissected specimen: head, thorax, wing and male genitalia . Paratype, same data as holotype, except CET (88051); dissected specimen: head, wing and male genitalia.

Distribution. Known only from the type locality in Guerrero, Mexico.

New Synonymy. Allotype (female) MEXICO, Puebla, Atlixco, Mexican Faune 1690 H, A. Dampf, CET (88050). This specimen is erroneously associated with the type specimens (holotype and paratype). It is conspecific with Culicoides (Beltranmyia) crepuscularis Malloch , based on characters given by antennal coeloconic sensillar pattern, legs coloration, palpus and spermatheca.

Figures

FIGURE 75–82. Wings, dorsal view. Female and male. Fluvialis group: 75. Culicoides castillae Fox, 76. Culicoides leopoldoi Ortiz. Leoni group: 77. Culicoides gabaldoni Ortiz, 78. Culicoides glabellus Wirth & Blanton, 79. Culicoides leoni Barbosa. 80. Culicoides reevesi Wirth. Limai group: 81. Culicoides luglani Jones & Wirth, 82. Culicoides neghmei Vargas (male). Scale: 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 99–103. Culicoides neghmei Vargas. Male. 99. Head, frontal view, 100. Terguite 9, dorsal view, 101. Aedeagus and in part of paramere, ventral view, 102. Genitalia, ventral view, arrows indicate the position of the paramere, 103. Paramere, lateral view. Scale: 0.1 mm.